Post by kijii on May 18, 2018 17:11:11 GMT
Here is how I think about Malcik's movies:
First of all, all of his movies are beautifully filmed from a scenic point of view:
In Badlands (1973) Sissy Spacek, as "Holly," tells her story in a simple matter-of-fact way with little emotion. This movie was, in fact, based on a real killing spree.
Holly Sargis (Sissy Spacek): One day, while taking a look at some vistas in Dad's stereopticon, it hit me that I was just this little girl, born in Texas, whose father was a sign painter, who only had just so many years to live. It sent a chill down my spine and I thought where would I be this very moment, if Kit had never met me? Or killed anybody... this very moment... if my mom had never met my dad... if she had never died. And what's the man I'll marry gonna look like? What's he doing right this minute? Is he thinking about me now, by some coincidence, even though he doesn't know me? Does it show on his face? For days afterwards I lived in dread. Sometimes I wished I could fall asleep and be taken off to some magical land, and this never happened.
In Days of Heaven (1978) Linda (Linda Manz) tells her story, in a simple way, from her point of view.
The sun looks ghostly when there's a mist on a river and everything's quiet. I never knowed it before. And you could see people on the shore, but they was far off and you couldn't see what they were doing. They were probably... calling for help or something, or they were trying to bury somebody or something.
In The Thin Red Line (1998) there is an internal monologue going on within a soldier while things are going on around him.--life and death. It is had for me to realize that these words were written by James Jones, the same man who wrote, From Here to Eternity and Some Came Running.
Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) : I remember my mother when she was dyin', looked all shrunk up and gray. I asked her if she was afraid. She just shook her head. I was afraid to touch the death I seen in her. I couldn't find nothin' beautiful or uplifting about her goin' back to God. I heard of people talk about immortality, but I ain't seen it...I wondered how it'd be like when I died, what it'd be like to know this breath now was the last one you was ever gonna draw. I just hope I can meet it the same way she did, with the same... calm. 'Cause that's where it's hidden - the immortality I hadn't seen.
Here is a review I once wrote for the IMDb:
In The New World (2005), I think the conversations are secondary to the thoughts and experiences of two COMPLETELY different types of peoples: The "civililzed" strange people who came in big boats, with guns and cannons to build buildings, and the indigenous peoples who had never seen--or imagined---such cultures or beings.
If you think of the movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), it would be like Michael Rennie trying to understand Patricia Neal (of Billy Gray) or vise versa. There is just wonder to know what to do next or how to behave, understand with these strange beings...why are they here? What do they want? etc. Words in this movie are something like thoughts--whole or stream-of-consciousness:
Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher): Mother, where do you live? In the sky? The clouds? The sea? Show me your face. Give me a sign. We rise... we rise. Afraid of myself. A god, he seems to me. What else is life but being near you? Do they suspect? Oh, to be given to you. You to me. I will be faithful to you. True. Two no more. One. One. I am... I am.
It must have been a HUGE step for Pocahontas to take that big boat away from Virginia to London and be seen with these people from another world and have them look at her. It might have been something like Patricia Neal taking a spaceship to another galaxy might have been with Michael Rennie..not knowing when, or if, she would return to her own world.
The Tree of Life (2011) takes an even further step outward from being, a man looking back at this life.
Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt): I wanted to be loved because I was great; A big man. I'm nothing. Look at the glory around us; trees, birds. I lived in shame. I dishonored it all, and didn't notice the glory. I'm a foolish man.
First of all, all of his movies are beautifully filmed from a scenic point of view:
In Badlands (1973) Sissy Spacek, as "Holly," tells her story in a simple matter-of-fact way with little emotion. This movie was, in fact, based on a real killing spree.
Holly Sargis (Sissy Spacek): One day, while taking a look at some vistas in Dad's stereopticon, it hit me that I was just this little girl, born in Texas, whose father was a sign painter, who only had just so many years to live. It sent a chill down my spine and I thought where would I be this very moment, if Kit had never met me? Or killed anybody... this very moment... if my mom had never met my dad... if she had never died. And what's the man I'll marry gonna look like? What's he doing right this minute? Is he thinking about me now, by some coincidence, even though he doesn't know me? Does it show on his face? For days afterwards I lived in dread. Sometimes I wished I could fall asleep and be taken off to some magical land, and this never happened.
In Days of Heaven (1978) Linda (Linda Manz) tells her story, in a simple way, from her point of view.
The sun looks ghostly when there's a mist on a river and everything's quiet. I never knowed it before. And you could see people on the shore, but they was far off and you couldn't see what they were doing. They were probably... calling for help or something, or they were trying to bury somebody or something.
In The Thin Red Line (1998) there is an internal monologue going on within a soldier while things are going on around him.--life and death. It is had for me to realize that these words were written by James Jones, the same man who wrote, From Here to Eternity and Some Came Running.
Private Witt (Jim Caviezel) : I remember my mother when she was dyin', looked all shrunk up and gray. I asked her if she was afraid. She just shook her head. I was afraid to touch the death I seen in her. I couldn't find nothin' beautiful or uplifting about her goin' back to God. I heard of people talk about immortality, but I ain't seen it...I wondered how it'd be like when I died, what it'd be like to know this breath now was the last one you was ever gonna draw. I just hope I can meet it the same way she did, with the same... calm. 'Cause that's where it's hidden - the immortality I hadn't seen.
Here is a review I once wrote for the IMDb:
The Thin Red Line (1998) 9/10
Gives us something beyond what we have come to expect from a movie
25 November 2016
As I continue my journey of experiencing Terrence Malick movies, I see that this one is almost as indispensable as The Tree of Life (2011), which still stands alone in terms of asking questions about life and its meaning. After making beautiful movies such as Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978), Malick seems to have taken another path with his movies.
These movies give us something beyond what we have come to expect from a movie. They use beautiful photography, but they also use a new element of internal dialogue (through voice over) within the characters— wondering and questioning meaning. While using the movie as a vehicle, they give us questions without clear-cut answers and leave us to think way beyond the usual surface level of life. The questions may, or may not, be deep, but they do exist within characters' minds, if only in passing. This great (mostly young) male cast only helps to make the movie better.
This movie—based on James Jones' autobiographical novel--is set in WW II as US soldiers try to retake territory occupied by Japan. The movie received seven Oscar nominations.
Gives us something beyond what we have come to expect from a movie
25 November 2016
As I continue my journey of experiencing Terrence Malick movies, I see that this one is almost as indispensable as The Tree of Life (2011), which still stands alone in terms of asking questions about life and its meaning. After making beautiful movies such as Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978), Malick seems to have taken another path with his movies.
These movies give us something beyond what we have come to expect from a movie. They use beautiful photography, but they also use a new element of internal dialogue (through voice over) within the characters— wondering and questioning meaning. While using the movie as a vehicle, they give us questions without clear-cut answers and leave us to think way beyond the usual surface level of life. The questions may, or may not, be deep, but they do exist within characters' minds, if only in passing. This great (mostly young) male cast only helps to make the movie better.
This movie—based on James Jones' autobiographical novel--is set in WW II as US soldiers try to retake territory occupied by Japan. The movie received seven Oscar nominations.
If you think of the movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), it would be like Michael Rennie trying to understand Patricia Neal (of Billy Gray) or vise versa. There is just wonder to know what to do next or how to behave, understand with these strange beings...why are they here? What do they want? etc. Words in this movie are something like thoughts--whole or stream-of-consciousness:
Pocahontas (Q'orianka Kilcher): Mother, where do you live? In the sky? The clouds? The sea? Show me your face. Give me a sign. We rise... we rise. Afraid of myself. A god, he seems to me. What else is life but being near you? Do they suspect? Oh, to be given to you. You to me. I will be faithful to you. True. Two no more. One. One. I am... I am.
It must have been a HUGE step for Pocahontas to take that big boat away from Virginia to London and be seen with these people from another world and have them look at her. It might have been something like Patricia Neal taking a spaceship to another galaxy might have been with Michael Rennie..not knowing when, or if, she would return to her own world.
The Tree of Life (2011) takes an even further step outward from being, a man looking back at this life.
Mr. O'Brien (Brad Pitt): I wanted to be loved because I was great; A big man. I'm nothing. Look at the glory around us; trees, birds. I lived in shame. I dishonored it all, and didn't notice the glory. I'm a foolish man.